Stage 5 of the Tour de Romandie will bring the race to a close. Carlos Rodríguez is now in the yellow jersey but has several riders within reach who may attack on the rainy day of racing. The sprinters may have it, but puncheurs such as Julian Alaphilippe and Thibau Nys also stand a chance of exploding the race.
As we read on CyclingUpToDate, the final day of racing this year is a hilly day fully made up of a circuit around the city of Vernier. 1600 meters of climbing in 150 kilometers, not overly hard, the profile definitely oversells it. But the prospects of a breakaway cannot be discounted as the rolling roads will be fatiguing in the peloton, but also not the easiest to chase.
Until 11 kilometers to go the riders are in the circuit, with a few small big-ring hilltops where attacks are possible, but also some sprinters may be dropped.
However, a bunch sprint is quite possible at the end of this race. If so, it will not be an easy one, with a few corners in the final 1.5 kilometers that will stretch things out. The final one with only 350 meters to go, it will definitely see a race to that corner, before the final sprint.
The Weather
No wind on the day, but we will have rain. Forecast points towards it falling in the late morning, slowing down in the afternoon. The riders may not get too much on their back, but at the very least the roads will become wet and more dangerous - favouring attacks and the early breakaway.
The Favourites
A day for the sprinters? Could well be, the profile is not too hard and without the presence of a big favourites, many teams will have hopes of a win and work towards a collective sprint. In the only one we've had so far in the race, after a hilly day, it was Dorian Godon who took the win with teammate Andrea Vendrame in the wheel. The Italian finished second twice this week and will want to finally capitalize on his form. Gianni Vermeersch and Milan Menten also finished among the first on that day, and they also enjoy the hilly days which means both are expected to be up there.
The day could end in a dispute between the strongest sprinters in the race. This would feature mostly Alberto Dainese of Tudor, Simone Consonni of Lidl-Trek, DSM's Pavel Bittner or Emils Liepins... Perhaps Matteo Moschetti of Q36.5 although his form is questionable.
In a sprint, we could perhaps also have the likes of Ethan Hayter and Alex Aranburu towards the front, although they do not regularly feature in bunch sprints. Add Clément Venturini, Nikias Arndt, Cyril Barthe and Tim van Dijke to the math, if this is the outcome of the day.
In a sprint we could also see Julian Alaphilippe and Thibau Nys, although they most likely will prefer a small group making it to the finish. Both are explosive and in quite good form, they should have in mind an attack on one of the many small climbs on the day. They could trigger bigger moves. Although many other quality rouleurs could be just as dangerous such as Luke Plapp, Magnus Sheffield, Bruno Armirail, Kasper Asgreen and Thomas de Gendt.
Prediction Tour de Romandie 2024 stage 5:
*** Dorian Godon, Alberto Dainese
** Pavel Bittner, Gianni Vermeersch, Simone Consonni
* Ethan Hayter, Andrea Vendrame, Alex Aranburu, Emils Liepins, Milan Menten, Matteo Moschetti, Julian Alaphilippe, Thibau Nys
Pick: Alberto Dainese
Place comments
0 Comments
You are currently seeing only the comments you are notified about, if you want to see all comments from this post, click the button below.
Show all comments